14 DAY TRIAL // Can hackers shut down the power in a whole area? Apparently they can, as a US government video shows. They've released a proof of concept that shows how a hacker attack could seriously "wack" electrical equipment. A hacker could have exploited a vulnerability in the security systems to make a turbine spin so fast that it would eventually melt down. How this can be done is shown in a video produced by the Homeland Security Department and that has been obtained by the Associated Press. However, the flaw that the attack had been targeting has been fixed for quite some time.
The video just shows the potential that hacking has these days. So, basically, if something is computer controlled and the hacker can get access to that one machine, then he or she could cause a lot of damage if unnoticed. Also, this is a very impressive demo, since instead of telling people about buffer overflow exploits, improper sanitization, distributed denial of service attacks and other tech-savvy stuff, you just make them see how a guy with a computer makes smoke come out of an industrial turbine.
This attack never happened to any electrical company and basically, no malicious user ever caused such a thing, it's all theoretical and the sole purpose of this hacking lesson is to let people know that a lot of nasty things can happen if cyber-security is not treated accordingly. Industrial sabotage is way more advanced in our era, you don't need to throw a wrench between the cogs now - all you need is a lot of knowledge and a computer.
The recorded demo, called the "Aurora Generator Test" was all about taking for example a theoretical attack and showing in a very clear way the impact you can have using cyber means and cyber techniques against this type of infrastructure, as Amit Yoran (cyber-security expert) said for the Associated Press.